Budget AV Receiver with Magnepan

Yeah I know! It looks brand new and I felt like a thief walking out of the store with it - it's a local hi-fi shop as well who said they'd give me 14 days if anything went wrong with it. Mission accomplished ;) Thanks for your help!

That's not a bad idea actually - I guess I'm sort of getting all worked up in upgrade mode, but who knows - maybe the Denon is better than I am giving it credit for. It's old, model number AVR1700, and is actually 70x5 instead of what I thought was 75 x 5. My only concern is the Maggies are rated at 5ohm which I thought might be a bit much for a receiver I bought for $250 on clearance some 8 years ago! That is also my concern with the Onkya and Yamaha units. Less so for the models I listed, including the NAD, as I know they all have relatively high current power supplies. I know the MMG-W's are frequency limited which eases the load a bit, but I also know they are quite revealing and will benefit from better amplifiers... especially ones that aren't working so hard to keep up.

Aren't some of these high end receivers (Rotel and B&K particularly) supposed to be more of a merged pre-amp amp combo and less your typically compromised receiver?

I want to go with the mini-Magnepans, so that's that. I *am* unfortunately severely budget limited, $500 or maaybe stretch to $800. So I'll always be compromised in some way.

As far as seperates here's a challenge- can anyone conceive of a pre-pro/amp seperate combo that could be in that budget used? Old B&K maybe? Requirements are 5 channel, at least Dolby Digital or DTS, and I would like at least component video switching if possible. Oh and it has to sound divine :)

Hah well I was actually looking at the option of my Denon with the Parasound 1205 (a couple on Audiogon for sale), but then I stumbled across a Rotel RSX-1065:

http://www.technofile.com/articles/rotel_1065_receiver.html

at a price I couldn't turn down (<$300). It's a receiver yes, but this thing looks more like Rotel crammed one of their preamps and amplifiers in one box - I'm sure there are plenty of compromises but it does everything I need and has plenty of power (peering through the top grille I see the thing has a good size toroidal transformer sitting in the middle)... all in one tidy and inexpensive box.

Right now I'm going with the MMG-W setup, which are small and hopefully easier to drive than the full Maggies - and I've always liked Rotel equipment. So we'll see how this setup works and if I'll feel the need for a seperate amp down the road.

Hey great ideas! I didn't even think about the preamp outs with an outboard amp - that way I can stage going to seperates over time. Not a bad idea at all. I'm also interested in looking at the Marantz av receivers, as I've heard good things about them but never really considered them. The thing about reading reviews about A/V receivers is that there is a sliding scale - one person will say X receiver is amazing, because they only have used low end receivers. Another person will say X receiver is trash, because they usually use high end seperates. It's a sliding scale :)

Eventually I plan to retire the Denon even as a preamp, because I want at least component video switching (just grabbed a new Samsung 42" plasma) if not the new fancy HDMI stuff. The guy at Circuit City poo-pooed component and said HDMI was the only way to go for HD, but I'm not so sure I believe him.

Yeah as far as HDMI goes, my new Samsung has 3 HDMI 1.3 inputs. Instead of going with a switching receiver as a central hub, I'm just going to connect direct to the TV (though it's a little more complicated for my wife to udnerstand :) ).

Thanks! I'm feeling very lucky right now ;) I haven't even hooked the beast up yet - I'm waiting to get the Maggies. BTW I'm coming from a Monitor Audio setup, Silver 5i's (which I really like) and an ASW-210 - I'm hoping the sub will blend ok with the MMG-W's. I have always loved the sound of the planar dipole speakers (my friend has a lovely pair of ML SL-3's) but these will be the first Magnepan speakers I will have owned so far!

Hehe don't worry Ekobesky, I'm not scared :) I couldn't pass on the Rotel, and some day I might just try an outboard amp... but for now I think I'll see how it all sounds. I think I'll be pretty happy compared to my little Denon. I think everybody has very valid points, they're just from different perspectives. There's plenty of time in the future for me to go down the 'slippery slope' - I'm just taking 'baby steps' right now.

Oh and one last question - I have decided to go the route of having two MMG-W's flanking my flat panel instead of one center channel above or below the screen. It's sleeker and I hear it works pretty well - only caveat is I will be driving two 5 ohm speakers with one channel. That's supposedly a nominal 2.5 ohms in parallel, or 10 ohms in serial (and if in serial I'm not sure how one speaker will affect the other). I know the MMG-W's in particular have a pretty flat impedance curve (no crossovers). Anyone have recommendations on how to handle this? Should I wire in parallel and adjust the center channel down to match the others? I plan to call Magnepan but I thought I'd throw it out here first.

Thanks!

Brad

Iplaynaked - don't worry, I understand everything you're saying. I'm not an experienced audiophile, and I like wine that some would say is not very good. I even drink Budweiser every once in a while :) I think you're maybe making some very broad statements though - the Rotel 1065 is a receiver yes... but I tend to think it's a wee bit more on the side of a pre-pro/amp combo than a mass market machine with big watt numbers to 'look' impressive. A compromise? Sure, but isn't everything? You could argue that a 'cheap' B&K Rotel pre-pro/amp combo is 'inadequate'. That's where the slippery slope starts, and I'm trying to avoid it as much as possible. On my budget, I'm willing to accept compromise. Home theater in a box? C'mon now. I tend to think of the Rotel as a BMW 328i. Not as fast as a Porsche, but a great all-rounder and plent fast enough for me! I am an avid Porsche/BMW fanatic and participate in local track events, karting, have done spec miata events, etc. If you put 112 octane in a car that's not designed for it, it will do no good at all. The baby maggies are bass limited so without a doubt they are easier to drive than the big sisters - so they take 93 AKI instead of 87, but the Rotel is no lo-test unit in my book. How's that for analogy?

Anyway your input is definitely appreciated - and at this point is all academic as I plan to play with the receiver for a while by itself before thinking about upgrading.

Cheers,

Brad